# Timeline of Japanese history

This is a timeline of Japanese history, comprising important legal, territorial and cultural changes and political events in Japan and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Japan.

## Paleolithic period

| Year | Date | Event |
| 14000 BC | | First settlers arrived on the Japanese archipelago, called the Jōmon. They had a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population. |

## 3rd century BC

| Year | Date | Event |
| 300 BC | | Mass migration from the Asian continent to the Japanese archipelago ushered in the Yayoi period. Japan transitioned from a hunter-gatherer to a settled agricultural society. There was a mixture between the Yayoi immigrants and the indigenous population, and between new cultural influences and existing practices. |

## 1st century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 57 | | The King of Na gold seal is issued by Emperor Guangwu of Han to the coalition of Japanese states in northern Kyushu led by Nakoku state. |

## 2nd century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 180 | | The Civil War of Wa ends, bringing Shaman queen Himiko to power in Yamatai clan somewhere in either Northern Kyushu or Central Honshu. |

## 3rd century

| Year | Event |
| 201 | The Nagata Shrine, Hirota Shrine and Ikuta Shrine, the oldest surviving Shinto shrines in Japan, are founded by the legendary Empress Jingū. |
| 238 | First emissaries from Himiko to China. |
| 248 | Himiko dies and is succeeded by 13 year old Queen Toyo after a brief civil war. Some rebels, preferring a male successor, fled Yamatai and founded the Miwa court in Nara. |
| 250 | The Kofun period and Yamato period starts. Traditional date to mark the founding of Yamato entity in Nara associated with the Sujin line of kings. |
| 266 | Toyo embassy to Emperor Wu of Jin |
| 283 | The Hata clan led by Yuzuki no Kimi settles in Japan, introducing sericulture (silk farming). |

## 4th century

| Year | Event |
| 346 | Makimuku site abandoned, possibly due to invaders including Baekje and Gaya confederacy men, indicating large changes of Miwa court |
| 350 | Unification of Yamato Province |
| 362 | King Chūai of Miwa court replaced by king Ōjin of Kawachi court (Saki Court), marking expansion of Yamato Province to entire Kinai |

## 5th century

Very little is known about the 5th century in Japan. The period was definitely marked by volatile inter-state warfare, complex alliances, submissions and betrayals. Some of the more constant Yamato polity partners were Baekje and Gaya confederacy, while enemies included Goguryeo, Silla and various Chinese groups. All of the records of the era either did not survive or are contentious.
| Year | Event |
| 404 | Goguryeo–Wa conflicts between Wa, Baekje, and Gaya against Goguryeo and Silla |
| 413 | King of Wa sends 1st recorded tribute to the Jin. |
| 430 | Yamato polity become a regional power after subjugating several states in West Japan. Details are subject to Mimana controversy. |
| 461 | Chronology of the Japanese historical records become consistent. All dates before this entry are reconstructed with foreign or archaeological data. |
| 461 | Baekje sends an embassy to Japan, as confirmed by both Japanese and Korean records. |

## 6th century

| Year | Event |
| 507 | Kawachi court is succeeded by King Ohoto of Koshi (Keitai line of kings) in Asuka court. |
| 527 | With the suppression of the Iwai Rebellion, the Yamato polity is firmly entrenched in Tsukushi Province, Kyushu. |
| 538 | Introduction of Buddhism in Japan by Seong of Baekje. |
| 538 | The Asuka period starts, the Imperial capital was transferred to Asuka. Yamato polity achieve de facto political dominance with full conquest of Shikoku and Kyushu islands. |
| 562 | The last states of Gaya confederacy are destroyed, marking extinction of Japonic languages outside Japan. |
| 587 | The religious war (Soga–Mononobe conflict) ends with the victory of the pro-Buddhist Soga clan. |
| 593 | The Soga clan takes control of Japan with the installation of Empress Suiko on the throne. |

## 7th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 603 | | Introduction of the Twelve Level Cap and Rank System in Japan |
| 607 | | The first embassy under the command of Ono no Imoko is sent to Sui China. |
| 630 | | The first of Japanese missions to Tang China |
| 645 | | The Asuka period ends with the power of the Soga clan broken in the Isshi incident and Nakatomi clan becoming the dominant power. |
| 646 | 22 January | The Hakuhō period starts with the Taika Reform. |
| 660 | | Japanese, under command of Abe no Hirafu, massacre the Mishihase people in Hokkaido. The Japanese do not return to Hokkaido until over 700 years later. |
| 663 | | The Japanese navy is decisively defeated in the Battle of Baekgang, marking the withdrawal of Japan from Korean politics. |
| 665 | | First coastal defences of Kyushu were built at what is now the Ōnojō Castle Ruins. |
| 668 | | The Ōmi Code was adopted starting the Ritsuryō law system. |
| 672 | | Succession conflict results in the Jinshin War. |
| 673 | | With the reign of Emperor Tenmu, Japan becomes an empire. |
| 684 | | 684 Hakuho earthquake, severe tsunami and subsidence at Tulsa |
| 689 | | Asuka Kiyomihara Code, incorporating a citizens registration and pestilence reporting system, was adopted |
| 694 | | The Imperial capital transferred to Fujiwara-kyō. |

## 8th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 701 | | The Taihō Code legal system is accepted. |
| 709 | | The Fort Ideha is established near modern Akita, marking the start of submission of the Emishi people in the Tōhoku region to Japanese. |
| 710 | | The Nara period starts after Empress Genmei establishes the capital of Heijō-kyō. |
| 711 | | The law prohibiting nobles from restricting peasant's access to non-agricultural areas is enacted. Stagnation in cultivated land area begins and would continue until 14th century. |
| 712 | | The Kojiki is completed. |
| 713 | | The provinces are ordered to compile cultural and geographical records, known as fudoki. |
| 718 | | Fujiwara no Fuhito compiles the Yōrō Code (the update of Taihō Code) which is accepted in 757. |
| 720 | | The Nihon Shoki (1st volume of historical chronicles Rikkokushi) is completed. |
| 720 | November | Murder of governor Kamitsukenu no Ason Hirohito and susbsequent punitive expedition to Mutsu Province |
| 721 | | The Hayato rebellion ends after a year and half of fighting, marking the complete subjugation of Southern Kyushu. |
| 721 | | Severe drought and government attempts to mitigate by clearing farmland in Mutsu Province |
| 724 | | Emperor Shōmu was enthroned. Also, the site of the Taga Castle, near to modern Sendai, is founded. |
| 731 | April | A fleet of 300 Japanese vessels is defeated on the east coast on Silla. |
| 735 | | Genbō and Kibi no Makibi returned from China. |
| 735 | | A major smallpox epidemic spread from Kyushu, resulting in a third of the population perishing, 10 years of social instability and 4 transfers of the Imperial capital through Kuni-kyō, Shigaraki Palace and Naniwa-kyō before returning to Heijō-kyō in 745. |
| 740 | 28 September | The Fujiwara no Hirotsugu rebellion erupts on Kyushu. |
| 741 | | Shōmu established the provincial temples as a part of shift from Confucianism to Buddhism effected by ongoing epidemic and famine. |
| 743 | | The Ritsuryō law system incorporated the right of eternal land ownership by any squatter in attempt to mitigate a rampant vagrancy. |
| 745 | | Establishment of the centralized rice tax system. |
| 749 | | End of first smallpox epidemic. |
| 751 | | The Kaifūsō poetry anthology was completed. |
| 752 | | The Great Buddha of Nara at Tōdai-ji was completed with the assistance of Bodhisena from India. |
| 754 | | Priest Ganjin arrived from China. |
| 757 | | Fujiwara no Nakamaro defeated an attempt by Tachibana no Naramaro to seize power. |
| 757 | | The Yōrō Code completes the evolution of Ritsuryō law system. |
| 763 | | Severe epidemic of unidentified illness began spreading from the Iki Island. |
| 764 | | Fujiwara no Nakamaro and Emperor Junnin launched a plot against the retired Empress Kōken and the monk Dōkyō (which failed) |
| 773 | | The Thirty-Eight Years War for the subjugation of Tōhoku starts. |
| 781 | | Emperor Kanmu was enthroned. |
| 784 | | The Imperial capital moved to Nagaoka-kyō. This was the capital of Japan from 784 to 794. Its location was in Otokuni District, Kyoto, Yamashiro Province. |
| 788 | | Saichō built Enryaku-ji. |
| 790 | | Relatively minor smallpox outbreak resulting in large mortality of men aged 30 or below. |
| 794 | | The first shōgun, Ōtomo no Otomaro, was appointed by Emperor Kanmu in 794 CE. The shōgun was the military dictator of Japan with near absolute power over territories via the military. |
| 794 | | The Heian period starts after Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Heian-kyō (ancient name of Kyoto). Emperor Kanmu chose to relocate the capital in order to distance it from the clerical establishment in Nara. |
| 797 | | The Shoku Nihongi (2nd volume of historical chronicles Rikkokushi) was completed. |

## 9th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 802 | | After the defeat of the Emishi Isawa confederation and execution of Aterui in the final stages of Thirty-Eight Years War [ja], the Japanese control the entire Honshu island. |
| 806 | | The Japanese kana scripts (invention popularly attributed to Kūkai) have evolved as distinct from Chinese characters. |
| 810 | | The Kusuko incident propels Emperor Saga to the throne, resulting in a 32-years long peaceful period. |
| 814 | | Second major outbreak of smallpox epidemic killing "nearly half" of the Japanese population. |
| 815 | | Shinsen Shōjiroku, the first compilation of Japanese genealogical data, is complete. |
| 829 | 23 January | Kūkai has established the first public school in Japan. |
| 839 | | Last envoy to Tang China sent (some later embassies were cancelled) |
| 840 | | Nihon Kōki (3rd volume of historical chronicles Rikkokushi) was completed. |
| 842 | | The Jōwa incident marks the raising power of the Fujiwara clan. |
| 853 | February | Minor outbreak of smallpox epidemic. The outbreaks would continue with average interval of 30 years until smallpox become endemic by 1061. |
| 858 | | The Fujiwara clan solidify their rule over Japan with the installation of Emperor Seiwa. |
| 869 | | Shoku Nihon Kōki (4th volume of historical chronicles Rikkokushi) was completed. |
| 869 | 9 July | The devastating 869 Sanriku earthquake and tsunami happened off Tohoku coast. |
| 878 | March | The Akita Castle is overrun during Gangyou disturbance [ja] with the background of heavy drought and famine, resulting in growing independence of the Dewa Province |
| 879 | | Nihon Montoku Tennō Jitsuroku (5th volume of historical chronicles Rikkokushi) was completed. |
| 887 | | Ako Controversy around edict issued by Emperor Uda naming Fujuwara no Mototsune as Kanpaku |
| 894 | | Sugawara no Michizane advocates for stopping sending embassies to China. |

## 10th century

| Year | Event |
| 901 | Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku (6th and last of historical chronicles Rikkokushi) was completed. |
| 907 | Severe epidemics and extreme weather including floods and drought, popularly attributed to persecution of Sugawara no Michizane |
| 935 | The Tosa Nikki, the oldest surviving Japanese diary, was written. |
| 939 | Tengyō no Ran – the failed rebellion of Taira no Masakado in Hitachi Province and Shimōsa Province, Fujiwara no Sumitomo in Iyo Province and San'yō region, plus opportunistic uprisings in Dewa Province – the first of many rebellions led by professional warriors (samurai), has led to the downfall of the Tachibana clan. |
| 949 | The 56 warrior monks of Tōdai-ji stage the public protest, marking the formation of sōhei class and militarization of temples. |
| 984 | The Ishinpō, the oldest surviving Japanese medical manual, is compiled. |
| 995 | Unprecedented scale epidemic ravages Heian-kyō, killing many nobles on the background of sectarian strife. |

## 11th century

| Year | Event |
| 1008 | The Tale of Genji is written. |
| 1019 | Toi invasion to northern Kyushu |
| 1028 | Taira no Tadatsune starts a 3-years long war in now Chiba Prefecture before surrendering. |
| 1051 | The Former Nine Years' War (Zenkunen War) against rebellious Abe clan in now Tohoku have started. |
| 1069 | The Ritsuryō system has completely failed due to encroachment by private manors. Emperor Go-Sanjō land reform attempt was thwarted by Fujiwara no Yorimichi, signaling the terminal decline of imperial power. |
| 1074 | The unification of units of volume measurement |
| 1083 | The fighting in Tohoku flares up again, resulting in the Gosannen War (Later Three-Year War). |

## 12th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1156 | | The Hōgen rebellion has marked the rise of the samurai class. |
| 1159 | | The Heiji rebellion has been defeated, and Taira clan under control of Taira no Kiyomori is dominating the government of Japan – the first example of samurai rule. |
| 1177 | | Shishigatani incident – an attempted rebellion against Taira clan rule |
| 1180 | | The Genpei War starts. As result, the Imperial capital is briefly moved to Fukuhara-kyō. |
| 1181 | | Severe drought created the Yōwa famine |
| 1185 | | The Kamakura period starts after the Genpei War ends with the defeat of the Taira clan, resulting in establishment of the Kamakura shogunate. |
| 1189 | 15 June | The Battle of Koromo River have ended de facto independence of the Northern Fujiwara clan in Tōhoku. As result, first Japanese refugees have settled in Kaminokuni, Hokkaido. |
| 1192 | | Kamakura became the de facto capital of Japan in about 1180 AD, following the victories of the Minamoto over the Taira. It officially became the capital in 1192 when Minamoto Yoritomo was declared shōgun. |
| 1192 | | Minamoto no Yoritomo seized power from the central government and the aristocracy and established a feudal system based in Kamakura. The samurai gained political power over the aristocratic nobility (kuge) of the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Minamoto no Yoritomo was awarded the title of Sei-i Taishōgun by Emperor Go-Toba. The Emperor became a figurehead. The political system that Yoritomo developed with a succession of shōguns as the head became known as a shogunate. The military class would rule Japan near continuously from 1192 till 1868 CE. |

## 13th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1221 | | Jōkyū War – an attempt of Imperial family to regain independence from the Kamakura shogunate |
| 1230-1231 | | Kanki famine |
| 1232 | | The Goseibai Shikimoku code accepted and used until the Edo period, marking militarization of legal system |
| 1274 | | 1st Mongol invasion in Japan repulsed in the Battle of Bun'ei |
| 1281 | | 2nd Mongol invasion in Japan repulsed in the Battle of Kōan |
| 1293 | 27 May | The deadly 1293 Kamakura earthquake, followed by government in-fighting, struck Japan. |

## 14th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1331 | | Emperor Go-Daigo initiates the Genkō War. |
| 1333 | 5 July | The short-lived Kenmu Restoration starts with the destruction of the Kamakura shogunate in the siege of Kamakura (1333). |
| 1334 | | Imperial court of Japan splits in two until 1392, resulting in the Nanboku-chō period. |
| 1336 | | The Muromachi period starts with the establishment of the Ashikaga shogunate domination over the imperial Northern Court. The Daimyō system is established. |
| 1341 | | The Jinnō Shōtōki is written, formalizing Emperor's of Japan role transition from ruler to the mystical symbol. |
| 1348 | 4 February | The Southern Court loses the Battle of Shijōnawate. |
| 1350 | | Kannō disturbance weakens the Ashikaga shogunate. Wokou pirates from Japan are becoming rampant in region. |
| 1353 | | The Southern Court wins the Battle of Yawata, enabling the siege of Kyoto in 1354. |
| 1368 | | De facto independence of the Kantō region |
| 1370 | | De facto independence of Kyushu |
| 1392 | | The Nanboku-chō period ends with subjugation of the Southern Court to the Northern Court. |

## 15th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1419 | 19 June | Ōei Invasion to Wokou bases on Tsushima Island |
| 1428 | | Cholera epidemic and extreme impoverishment in now Shiga Prefecture have resulted in the Shocho uprising. |
| 1438 | | Flare-up of Eikyō disturbance [ja] in the Kantō region after 22 years of confrontation between local lords and shogunate |
| 1443 | | The Treaty of Gyehae was signed, resulting in Wokou pirates becoming increasingly non-Japanese. |
| 1454 | | The Kyōtoku incident starts the 32 years of instability and bloodshed in the semi-independent Kantō region. |
| 1457 | | Takeda Nobuhiro emerged victorious after repelling an Ainu assault on Kaminokuni, Hokkaido, marking the beginning of Japanese conquest of Hokkaido. |
| 1457 | | Edo Castle, a nucleus of modern Tokyo, was built. |
| 1459 | | Bad handling of the Kanshō famine in the aftermath of flood and plague in Kyoto has resulted in increasing divisions of society. |
| 1467 | | The Ōnin War starts, marking the beginning of the Sengoku period – during which violence and power struggle has become the norm. |
| 1477 | | Kyoto has been completely destroyed. Iga Province by this point has successfully rejected the authority of the local shugo. |
| 1485 | | The Yamashiro uprising establishes the Yamashiro ikki |
| 1487 | | Battle of Magari: Rokkaku Takayori, supported by ninja from Iga ikki and Kōka ikki, defeats an expedition from Shogun Ashikaga Yoshihisa. |
| 1488 | | The Kaga Rebellion overthrows Togashi Masachika and establishes a theocratic confederation, the Kaga ikki, in now-Ishikawa Prefecture. |
| 1493 | | The Ashikaga shogunate destroys the Yamashiro ikki |
| 1498 | 20 September | 1498 Nankai earthquake |

## 16th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1523 | | Japanese in-fighting results in the Ningbo incident, bringing trade with China to a halt and resulting in a new wave of Wokou piracy. |
| 1540 | | Tenbun famine [ja] and plague |
| 1543 | 25 August | The first Europeans, the Portuguese, arrive at Japan, opening the Nanban trade period. |
| 1560 | | Battle of Okehazama: Oda Nobunaga emerged victorious. |
| 1570 | | Oda Nobunaga starts a 10-year long Ishiyama Hongan-ji War to suppress the warrior monk community and the Kaga ikki state. |
| 1573 | | Japanese society begins to stabilize, starting the Azuchi–Momoyama period under the rule of Oda Nobunaga and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi. |
| 1574 | | The Rokkaku clan and Kōka ikki surrender to Nobunaga. The Iga–Kōka alliance is thus terminated. |
| 1579 | | Azuchi religious debate results in enforced religious tolerance. |
| 1581 | | Oda Nobunaga forces win the Tenshō Iga War, destroying the Iga ikki |
| 1581 | | Himeji Castle, the largest in Japan, was built. |
| 1582 | | Honnō-ji incident: Akechi Mitsuhide betrays Oda Nobunaga who commits suicide |
| 1585 | | Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Shikoku. |
| 1586 | | The 1586 Tenshō earthquake strikes central Honshu, killing thousands. |
| 1587 | | Toyotomi Hideyoshi launches the Kyūshū campaign. |
| 1590 | 4 August | Toyotomi Hideyoshi prevails over the Late Hōjō clan in the siege of Odawara in the Kantō region, completing the re-unification of Japan. |
| 1591 | 8 October | The Separation Edict and Population Census Edict froze the social structure of Japan. |
| 1592 | 23 May | Toyotomi Hideyoshi, acting as kampaku (regent) in lieu of Oda Nobukatsu, invaded Korea. |
| 1597 | 5 February | 26 Martyrs of Japan were crucified in Nagasaki in the aftermath of the San Felipe incident. |
| 1598 | 16 December | The Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) have ended with Japanese retreat after the Battle of Noryang. |
| 1600 | 21 October | The Battle of Sekigahara is won by forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu. |

## 17th century

| Year | Date | Events |
| 1603 | 24 March | The Edo period starts after Tokugawa Ieyasu received from Emperor Go-Yōzei the title of shōgun. |
| 1603 | | The town of Edo became the de facto capital of Japan and center of political power. This was after Tokugawa Ieyasu established the bakufu headquarters in Edo. Kyoto remained the formal capital of the country. |
| 1603 | November | Rokugō Rebellion |
| 1605 | 3 February | 1605 Nankai earthquake and tsunami |
| 1605 | | Ieyasu abdicated from office in favor of his third son and heir, Tokugawa Hidetada. |
| 1609 | 7 March | Invasion of Ryukyu |
| 1610 | 3 January | Nossa Senhora da Graça incident |
| 1611 | 2 December | 1611 Sanriku earthquake and tsunami |
| 1615 | 3 June | The siege of Osaka is complete with the Battle of Tennōji: Tokugawa Ieyasu ended Toyotomi opposition. |
| 1623 | | Hidetada resigned his office to his eldest son and heir, Tokugawa Iemitsu. |
| 1635 | | The Sakoku Edict of 1635 was issued by the Tokugawa shogunate. This isolationist foreign policy barred Japanese from leaving Japan and barred Europeans from entering, on pain of death. It instituted strict penalties for the practice of Catholicism and severely restricted foreign trade. |
| 1635 | | The policy of sankin-kōtai was established, which subjected the daimyōs to the will of the shōgun. |
| 1637 | 17 December | Shimabara Rebellion: A rebellion began against the daimyō Matsukura Katsuie over his persecution of Christianity and onerous tax code. |
| 1638 | 15 April | Shimabara Rebellion: The last of the rebels were defeated in their fortress at Shimabara. |
| 1642 | | The Kan'ei Great Famine happens due to a combination of government over-spending, Rinderpest epizootic, volcanic eruptions and extreme weather. |
| 1651 | 24 April | Iemitsu died, leaving his office to the ten-year-old Tokugawa Ietsuna. |
| 1651 | | Keian Uprising: A coup d'état attempted by several rōnin and masterminded by Yui Shōsetsu and Marubashi Chūya failed. |
| 1657 | 2 March | Great Fire of Meireki in Edo |
| 1669 | | Shakushain's revolt on Hokkaido |
| 1680 | 4 June | Ietsuna died and was succeeded by his younger brother, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. |
| 1686 | | Jōkyō uprising |

## 18th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1703 | 20 March | Chūshingura – Forty-seven rōnin were ordered to commit seppuku by the shōgun. |
| 1703 | 31 December | 1703 Genroku earthquake and tsunami |
| 1707 | 28 October | 1707 Hōei earthquake and tsunami, followed by the Hōei eruption of Mount Fuji |
| 1709 | 19 February | Tsunayoshi died. His nephew Tokugawa Ienobu succeeded him as shōgun. |
| 1712 | | The Wakan Sansai Zue, the first Japanese encyclopaedia, was published. |
| 1712 | 12 November | Ienobu died and was succeeded by his five-year-old son, Tokugawa Ietsugu, under the regency of the shōgun's adviser Arai Hakuseki. |
| 1716 | 19 June | Ietsugu died. Tokugawa Yoshimune, a great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, became shōgun. |
| 1716 | July | The Kyōhō Reforms aimed for monetization of economy and broader import of European knowledge have started. |
| 1720 | | The foreign books restrictions are reduced, starting a Rangaku practice. |
| 1732 | | The Kyōhō famine happens due to a locust infestation in the Seto Inland Sea region. |
| 1745 | | Yoshimune retired, leaving his public office to his eldest son Tokugawa Ieshige, although he maintained some influence in the affairs of state. |
| 1754 | | 1754 Horeki River incident |
| 1760 | | Ieshige retired, leaving his office to his eldest son Tokugawa Ieharu. |
| 1771 | 9 January | Empress Go-Sakuramachi abdicated in favor of her nephew Go-Momozono. She was the last empress regnant of Japan up until now. |
| 1771 | 24 April | 1771 Great Yaeyama Tsunami |
| 1782 | | Great Tenmei famine |
| 1783 | 5 August | Tenmei eruption of Mount Asama |
| 1789 | May | Menashi–Kunashir rebellion on Hokkaido |
| 1790 | | The Kansei Reforms, including the Kansei Edict, tighten the isolation of Japan. |
| 1792 | 21 May | 1792 Unzen earthquake and tsunami |

## 19th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1806 | | Chwostoff raids on the Japanese-controlled Kuril Islands. |
| 1807 | | Failed military expedition to Sakhalin |
| 1811 | | The Golovnin Incident marks increasing contacts with the Russian Empire. |
| 1825 | | Edict to Repel Foreign Vessels |
| 1833 | | Tenpō famine |
| 1837 | | Morrison incident |
| 1842 | | Tenpō Reforms lifts the price controls and further reduce contacts with Europeans. |
| 1846 | 10 March | Emperor Ninkō died at the age of 45 and was succeeded by Emperor Kōmei. |
| 1847 | 8 May | 1847 Zenkoji earthquake |
| 1848 | 1 July | The isolation policy of the Tokugawa shogunate has begun to crumble by the time of landing of Ranald MacDonald on Rishiri Island. |
| 1853 | 14 July | Matthew C. Perry arrives off the coast of Japan in four ships. Perry orders harbor buildings to be shelled to force negotiations for a letter President Millard Fillmore sent to the ruler of Japan. This incident was coined as the "Arrival of the Black Ships" in Japanese history. |
| 1854 | February | Second Visit. Matthew C. Perry returns to Japan with eight Black Ships and finds that the shogunate had prepared a treaty accepting virtually all demands from President Millard Fillmore. |
| 1854 | 31 March | The Convention of Kanagawa was signed. Within 5 years, Japan signs similar treaties with other western countries, thus ending an isolation period of more than 200 years known as sakoku (鎖国), whereby the Dutch and Chinese ships had limited trade exclusivity. |
| 1854 | 23 December | The Ansei great earthquakes series starts with the 1854 Tōkai earthquake and tsunami. |
| 1855 | 7 February | The Treaty of Shimoda with the Russian Empire was signed. |
| 1855 | 25 August | With the arrival of the modern Dutch paddle steamer Kankō Maru, the Tokugawa shogunate establishes the Nagasaki Naval Training Center as part of its modernization efforts to meet the perceived military threat posed by the western nations and learn Western-style science and naval theory. The cadets who attended the center such as Enomoto Takeaki and Katsu Kaishū would go on to found the Imperial Japanese Navy following the Meiji Restoration in 1868. |
| 1855 | 11 November | The Ansei great earthquakes series ends with the 1855 Edo earthquake followed by a devastating fire. |
| 1858 | 26 August | The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce and other Ansei Treaties were signed, resulting in Ansei Purge. |
| 1860 | 9 February | Ambassador Shinmi Masaoki sets sail for San Francisco, leading the first Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States. |
| 1860 | 17 March | The Japanese ship Kanrin Maru arrives in San Francisco with the delegation, marking the first official visit to a foreign state following the end of its 214-year isolationist policy, demonstrating the degree to which Japan had mastered Western navigation techniques and ship technologies in the 6 years since opening its borders. |
| 1862 | 14 September | Namamugi Incident: Four British subjects were attacked by guards on the Tōkaidō for failing to pay proper respect to a daimyo. One, a merchant named Charles Lennox Richardson, was killed. |
| 1863 | 11 March | Order to expel barbarians |
| 1863 | 16 July | Battle of Shimonoseki Straits |
| 1863 | 15 August | Bombardment of Kagoshima |
| 1863 | 29 September | Tenchūgumi incident - the year-long rebellion in Yamato Province starts. |
| 1864 | May | The Mito Rebellion starts in Mito Domain and continues until January 1865. |
| 1864 | 20 August | Kinmon incident - an attempt to kidnap an Emperor Kōmei, resulting in partial burning of Kyoto. It was retaliated by the abortive First Chōshū expedition. |
| 1866 | 7 June | The Second Chōshū expedition starts, only to be halted after death of shogun Tokugawa Iemochi in August 1866, critically discrediting the Tokugawa shogunate. |
| 1867 | 30 January | Emperor Kōmei died at the age of 35. It's generally believed due to the smallpox epidemic. This marked the end of the Edo period. |
| 1867 | 13 February | Emperor Meiji ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne. This marked the start of the Meiji Period. |

## Meiji period (1868–1912)

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1868 | 3 January | Meiji Restoration restored practical abilities and the political system under Emperor Meiji. This ended the Tokugawa Shogunate. |
| 1868 | 1868 to 1869 | Boshin War was fought between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the Imperial Court. |
| 1869 | | The city of Edo was formally renamed to Tokyo ("eastern capital"). The city of Tokyo was officially established. |
| 1869 | 1 May | Emperor Meiji moved his residence from Kyoto to Tokyo. Edo castle became the Imperial Palace. This made Tokyo the formal capital of Japan. |
| 1871 | | Abolition of Han system, being replaced by a system of Japanese prefectures. |
| 1873 | | Seikanron: Japanese government debated and rejected the idea of the invasion of Korea. |
| 1873 | | Land Tax Reform (Japan 1873) |
| 1874 | 16 February to 9 April | Saga Rebellion |
| 1874 | 6 May to 3 December | Mudan incident in Greater China. |
| 1875 | | Japan quickly transformed in one generation from an isolated feudal society to a modern industrialized nation state and an emerging great power. |
| 1876 | | Akizuki, Hagi and Shinpūren Rebellions. |
| 1877 | | Satsuma Rebellion. |
| 1878 | 23 August | Takebashi incident: A riot by underpaid Imperial Guards. |
| 1884 | | Chichibu incident: A peasants rebellion. |
| 1890 | 29 November | The Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Meiji Constitution) was enacted. This turned Japan into a quasi-absolute monarchy with a representative democracy. |
| 1891 | 28 October | 1891 Mino–Owari earthquake: A strongest recorded inland earthquake of Japan. |
| 1894 | 1 August | First Sino-Japanese War starts. |
| 1895 | 17 April | The First Sino-Japanese War is won by the Japanese, resulting in the Treaty of Shimonoseki. It was the first major conflict between Japan and an overseas military power in modern times. For the first time, regional dominance in East Asia shifted from China to Japan. Korea became a vassal state of Japan. |
| 1895 | 29 May | Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1895) |
| 1896 | 15 June | Sanriku earthquake kills 22,066 people. |
| 1902 | 30 January | Russo-Japanese War: Japan became the first Asian nation to sign a mutual defense pact with a European nation, Britain. |
| 1904 | 8 February | Russo-Japanese War: Japan launched a surprise torpedo attack on the Imperial Russian Navy at Port Arthur. |
| 1905 | 5 September | Russo-Japanese War: Japan became the first modern Asian nation to win a war against an Eastern European nation (Russia). The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed, ceding some Russian property and territory to Japan and ending the war. Pro-war activists staged the Hibiya incendiary incident nevertheless. This changed the global world order. Japan became the main Asian power. |
| 1910 | 22 August | Japan–Korea Treaty completes the annexation of the Korean Empire. |
| 1910 | December | Japanese Antarctic Expedition starts. |
| 1912 | 30 July | Emperor Meiji died of kidney failure and ulcerative colitis at the age of 59. |

## Taisho period (1912–1926)

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1912 | 30 July | Prince Taisho became as the Emperor of Japan. This marked the start of the Taishō period. |
| 1914 | 5 to 6 September | Japanese seaplane carrier Wakamiya conducted the world's first successful naval-launched air raids on 5 September 1914 and during the first months of World War I from Jiaozhou Bay off Qingdao. On 6 September 1914 was the very first air-sea battle in history. |
| 1914 | 31 October | The siege of Qingdao starts as part of World War I. |
| 1915 | 18 January | Japan sends the Twenty-One Demands to China. |
| 1917 | 2 November | Lansing–Ishii Agreement goes into effect. |
| 1918 | January 1918 to April 1920 | Spanish flu pandemic began to devastate Japan, which killed 400,000 people. |
| 1918 | 4 April | Japanese intervention in Siberia starts and continues until 1922. |
| 1918 | July to September | Rice riots of 1918 |
| 1918 | July | Siberian intervention launched. |
| 1919 | 1 March | March 1st Movement begins to invigorate the Korean independence movement. |
| 1920 | | Japan helps found the League of Nations. |
| 1921 | 13 November | Hōshō, the first Japanese aircraft carrier, is launched. |
| 1921 | 29 November | Crown Prince Hirohito becomes regent because his father, Emperor Taisho had a serious illness. |
| 1921 | 13 December | Four-Power Treaty is signed with America, Britain, and France. |
| 1922 | 6 February | Five Power Naval Disarmament Treaty is signed. |
| 1922 | 28 August | Japan withdraws troops from Siberia. |
| 1923 | 1 September | Great Kanto earthquake kills 140,000 people. |
| 1924 | 26 January | Crown Prince Hirohito (Future Emperor Shōwa) marries Princess Nagako of Kuni (Future Empress Nagako). |
| 1925 | 5 May | General Election Law was passed, all men above age 25 gained the right to vote. |
| 1926 | 25 December | Emperor Taishō died of heart attack at the age of 47 after developing pneumonia. |

## Showa period (1926–1989)

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1926 | 25 December | Prince Hirohito became as the Emperor of the Empire of Japan after the death of his father Yoshihito. This marked the start of Shōwa period, and also the last period of the Empire of Japan (during the final year of World War II). |
| 1927 | January to April | Shōwa financial crisis begins. |
| 1927 | 30 December | Tokyo Metro Ginza Line between Ueno and Asakusa was the first subway line built in Japan. |
| 1928 | 3 to 11 May | Jinan incident. |
| 1928 | 28 June | Huanggutun incident. |
| 1930 | 27 October | Wushe incident, a rebellion on Taiwan, which was the last major uprising against colonial Japanese forces in Taiwan. |
| 1931 | 18 September | Japan invaded Manchuria in the aftermath of Mukden incident in Northeastern China. |
| 1932 | 1 March | Manchukuo, a puppet state of Japan, is established. |
| 1932 | 28 January to 3 March | Shanghai incident begin for only two months. |
| 1932 | 15 May | Japanese Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated during the Japanese coup d'état. |
| 1936 | 26 to 28 February | Japanese Prime Minister Keisuke Okada survived the two days of incident. However, he left office by one month later. |
| 1937 | 7 July | Second Sino-Japanese War begins. |
| 1937 | 13 August to 26 November | Battle of Shanghai begins. |
| 1939 | 13 September to 8 October | Battle of Changsha begins in Hunan Province, China. |
| 1940 | 16 March to 3 April | Battle of Wuyuan begins. |
| 1940 | 1 May to 18 June | Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang begins. |
| 1940 | 22 September | Japanese invasion of French Indochina begins. |
| 1941 | 13 April | Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed. |
| 1941 | 7 December | Empire of Japan attacked the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japan declared war on American, Dutch, and British people, marking the start of Pacific War theatre of World War II. |
| 1941 | 8 to 10 December | First Battle of Guam begin. |
| 1941 | 8 to 25 December | Battle of Hong Kong begins in China. |
| 1942 | 12 January | Japan declares war on Dutch. |
| 1942 | 22 January | Hideki Tōjō warns Australia that says: "If you continue resistance, Japanese will destroy you." |
| 1942 | February | Japan demands the surrender of Singapore. |
| 1942 | 20 March | The navy minister, Admiral Shigetarō Shimada says that in view of the Allies' "Retaliation and hatred", Japan would no longer follow recognized rules of sea warfare. |
| 1942 | 18 April | Doolittle Raid, the first bombing raid on Japanese home islands. |
| 1942 | 4 to 7 June | Battle of Midway begins. |
| 1943 | 14 January to 8 February | Operation Ke, a Japanese naval operation, who intended as the reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor and disruption of repair and salvage operations following the surprise attack at two years ago. |
| 1943 | 29 January to 4 February | Battle of Wau begins in the eastern parts of New Guinea. |
| 1944 | 15 June to 9 July | Battle of Saipan begins in the Mariana Islands. |
| 1944 | 15 to 16 June | Bombing of Yawata begins in Kyoto Prefecture. |
| 1944 | 19 to 20 June | Battle of the Philippine Sea begins. |
| 1944 | 21 July to 10 August | Second Battle of Guam begins. |
| 1944 | 10 to 20 October | Formosa Air Battle begins. |
| 1944 | 30 to 31 December | Battle of Pearl Ridge begins. |
| 1945 | 18 February | U.S. Marines land on Iwo Jima. |
| 1945 | 10 March and 24 May | Two Bombings of Tokyo begins. |
| 1945 | 26 March | American Armed Forces win the Battle of Iwo Jima, defeating the last remaining troops led by Tadamichi Kuribayashi. |
| 1945 | 6 and 9 August | Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during the final period of World War II. |
| 1945 | 8 August | Soviet invasion of Manchuria starts and continues on as the Kuril Islands dispute. |
| 1945 | 15 August | Surrender of Japan Last Allied bombing of Japan takes place in Odawara and Tsuchizaki. Emperor Hirohito declares Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration following the surrender of Japan at the end of war. |
| 1946 | | Japanese economic miracle begins. |
| 1946 | 1 January | During the New Year's Day, Emperor Shōwa renounces his divinity, known in Japanese as the Human Declaration. |
| 1946 | 4 January | Just five months after he arrived in Japan, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, General Douglas MacArthur order the Japanese government to expel all militarists from positions of power. The disbandment of all ultra-nationalist organizations is also ordered. |
| 1946 | 2 March | Kose Cosmetics founded in Oji region, Tokyo, as predecessor name was Kobayashi Kose Cosmetics. |
| 1946 | 22 April | Sazae-san is first published. |
| 1946 | 3 May | In the controversial International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the prosecution began of Japanese military leaders for war crimes. |
| 1946 | 7 May | Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, the predecessor of Sony, is founded. |
| 1946 | 16 May | Shigeru Yoshida receives Imperial Order to form a cabinet. |
| 1946 | 22 May | Yoshida's cabinet has announced. |
| 1946 | 20 June | Emperor Hirohito submits a revision of the Imperial Constitution to the National Diet. |
| 1946 | 16 August | Keidanren has established. |
| 1946 | 3 November | Constitution of Japan promulgated. |
| 1947 | 3 March | Sekisui Chemical was founded. |
| 1947 | 3 May | The Constitution of Japan goes into the effect. This country will start the transition from the Empire of Japan to the State of Japan (Nihon Koku, 日本国) with a Liberal Democracy. The Article 9 turned Japan into a pacifist country without a military, known as East Asia or Asia-Pacific country. |
| 1947 | 4 August | Supreme Court of Japan has established. |
| 1951 | 8 September | American occupation of Japan ended after the signing of the Treaty of San Francisco and Security Treaty between United States of America and the State of Japan, which became effective on 28 April 1952. It restored the sovereignty of Japan and established America-Japan alliance. |
| 1954 | 1 July | Formation of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), and Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). |
| 1955 | 15 November | The right-wing Liberal Democratic Party, a major conservative and Japanese nationalist political party in Japan, which has ruled Japan almost continuously ever since. |
| 1956 | 12 December | Japan joins the United Nations for the first time since the end of World War II. |
| 1960 | June | The massive Anpo protests against revision of the America–Japan Security Treaty are the largest protests in Japan's modern history, and force the resignation of Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi and the cancellation of a planned visit by US president Dwight D. Eisenhower. |
| 1964 | 1 October | A largest Japanese land reclamation project thus far was completed in Lake Hachirōgata, creating the village of Ōgata out of 195 km$^2$ of lakebed reclaimed since 1957. |
| 1964 | 1 October | The first Shinkansen high-speed train railway line was opened. |
| 1964 | 10 October | 1964 Summer Olympics: Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympic Games, marking the first time the Games were held in Asia-Pacific. |
| 1968 | | Japan surpassed West Germany to become the second largest economic power in the world. |
| 1968 | | The Ogasawara Islands were returned from American occupation to Japanese sovereignty. Japanese citizens were allowed to return. |
| 1969 | 18 January | Japanese student protests against the Vietnam War and American use of bases on Japanese soil culminated in a short-lived takeover of University of Tokyo. |
| 1970 | 11 February | The first successful launch of the Lambda 4S rocket places the Japanese Ohsumi satellite on orbit. |
| 1970 | 20 December | The Koza riot was a violent and spontaneous protest against the US military presence in Okinawa. |
| 1970 | | By the 1970s Japan ascended to great power status again. Japan had record high economic growth during the Japanese economic miracle. |
| 1971 | 30 September | Zengakuren demonstrate and riot in Tokyo against terms for the return of Okinawa from US to Japanese control. They wanted to remove all American military presence. |
| 1971 | 24 November | The 1971 Okinawa Reversion Agreement is ratified and returned the Okinawa Prefecture to Japanese sovereignty. |
| 1974 | | Prime Minister Eisaku Satō accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| 1980 | | Japan became the biggest motor vehicle producing country in the world with 11,042,884 motor vehicles compared to the USA's 8,009,841. |
| 1983 | | The domestic North American video game market crashes, allowing the Japanese industry to take America's place as the world's largest video game market. |
| 1985 | 12 August | Japan Air Lines Flight 123 crashes near Mount Takamagahara, killing 520 people in Japan's worst ever air disaster. |
| 1989 | 7 January | Emperor Hirohito died of cancer at the age of 87. |

## Heisei period (1989–2019)

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1989 | 7 January | After his death from cancer, his posthumous name is Emperor Shōwa. He was the both longest-lived and longest-reigning historical Japanese emperor, as well as the longest-reigning monarch in the world at that time of his death. Crown Prince Akihito succeeded to the Chrysanthemum Throne upon the death of his father Emperor Shōwa. He thereby became as the Emperor of Japan. This marked the start of the Heisei period. |
| 1989 | 29 December | During Japanese asset price bubble, Tokyo Stock Market index, Nikkei 225, hits its peak at 38,957 before closing at 38,916 for the day. |
| 1991 | 1 January | Japanese asset price bubble has been popped, ending Japanese economic miracle and triggering the prolonged period of economic decline known as the "Lost Decades". |
| 1993 | 12 July | 1993 Okushiri earthquake kills 230 people, but no injuries. |
| 1993 | 18 July | In the wake of Japanese economic crisis, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is defeated in the general elections for the first time since 1955, and the coalition of opposition parties headed by Morihiro Hosokawa takes power. |
| 1995 | 17 January | Great Hanshin earthquake: Kansai region earthquake kills 6,434 people and more than 43,792 injured. |
| 1995 | 20 March | Tokyo subway sarin attack: Members of the Aum Shinrikyo religious sect release sarin gas on the Tokyo subway system, killing 13 and injuring over 1000. |
| 1997 | 11 December | Kyoto Protocol to regulate greenhouse gas emissions was adopted. |
| 2000 | 5 April | Japanese Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi resigned due to his mild stroke, and Yoshirō Mori become 90th Prime Minister of Japan. |
| 2000 | 14 May | Japanese Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi died of mild stroke at the hospital in Tokyo at the age of 62. |
| 2001 | 26 April | Japanese Prime Minister Yoshirō Mori resigned and Junichiro Koizumi become 91st Prime Minister of Japan. |
| 2001 | 29 July | Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won the House of Councillors election. |
| 2002 | 31 May-30 June | 2002 FIFA World Cup are held in Japan and South Korea. |
| 2003 | 9 November | Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won the general elections at the second time. |
| 2003 | 9 December | Japan send troops to Iraq during the Iraq War (2003–11). However, a year later, Japan was established Japanese Iraq Reconstruction and Support Group between 2004 and 2006. |
| 2004 | 11 July | Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won the House of Councillors election. |
| 2004 | 23 October | 2004 Chūetsu earthquake kills 68 people and more than 4,805 injured. |
| 2005 | 11 September | Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won the general elections at the third time. |
| 2005 | November | Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s robotic spacecraft Hayabusa landed on an asteroid and collected samples in the form of tiny grains of asteroidal material, which were returned to Earth aboard the spacecraft on 13 June 2010. It was the first spacecraft in history designed to deliberately land on an asteroid and then take off again. The Hayabusa mission was the first to return an asteroid sample to Earth for analysis. |
| 2006 | 26 September | Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi resigned and Shinzo Abe become 92nd Prime Minister of Japan. |
| 2007 | 29 July | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned due to lost his power in the House of Councillors election to Ichirō Ozawa. |
| 2007 | 26 September | Yasuo Fukuda become 93rd Prime Minister of Japan following Shinzo Abe lost the House of Councillors election and his resignation. |
| 2008 | January–December | Japan has severely hardest-hit by the 2007–2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession. |
| 2008 | 24 September | Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda resigned and Tarō Asō become 94th Prime Minister of Japan. |
| 2009 | 30 August | Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda lost his election to Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama. |
| 2009 | 16 September | Yukio Hatoyama was elected 95th Prime Minister of Japan. |
| 2010 | 8 June | Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned and Naoto Kan become the 96th Prime Minister of Japan. |
| 2010 | 1 July | According to the United Nations, Japanese population has now peaked. |
| 2010 | 11 July | Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan won the House of Councillors election. |
| 2011 | January and March | The Tokyo Skytree 634.0 metres (2,080 ft) became the third tallest tower in the world, which opened in 2012. |
| 2011 | 11 March | Japan begin to suffered from the triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster, etc.), which claimed the lives of 20,000 people. |
| 2011 | July | Japan Self-Defense Force Base was established in Djibouti. |
| 2011 | 1 July | According to the United Nations, Japan's total memorial population is 128 million people, which peaked at 128.1 million people in 2010. It the 3rd-most populous country in Asia-Pacific region (Behind Greater China and Indonesia), and the 11th-most populous country in the world. |
| 2012 | 16 December | Shinzo Abe won the general election at the first time. |
| 2012 | 26 December | Shinzo Abe was elected 98th Prime Minister of Japan. |
| 2013 | 2 January | Abenomics and Japanese policies are enacted to handle the consequences of the Lost Decade. Japanese aging population has begun to decrease since July 2010. |
| 2013 | June to October | 2013 Japanese heatwave, according to Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare official confirmed report, 1,077 people lost their lives to heatwave, caused by heat stroke, second worst heatwave disaster in Japan. |
| 2013 | 21 July | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won the House of Councillors election at the first time. |
| 2013 | 7 September | During the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Japan award the rights to host 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in Reiwa period (over Istanbul and Madrid). |
| 2013 | 6 December | State Secrecy Law passes the National Diet. |
| 2014 | 5 March | 2012–2013 PC remote control incident in Japan, a suspect man of 31-year-old bail for the first time in almost a year from the Tokyo Detention Center of the receiving destination. However, the prosecution claimed the bail revocation on 19 May, suspects the Tokyo District Court, a suspect man imprisoned in the Tokyo Detention Center on 20 May. |
| 2014 | 8 March | Abeno Harukas open in Abeno-ku, Osaka, the tallest (exclude freestanding) structure in Japan. |
| 2014 | 31 March | In court that the International Court of Justice, the world complained as the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling violation research whaling in the Antarctic Ocean in Japan, research whaling in Japan said, "not for research purposes", and certification treaty violation, ruling order so that it is not carried out in future. |
| 2014 | 1 April | Consumption tax is up to 8% from 5% since 1997. |
| 2014 | 20 August | 2014 Hiroshima landslides, according to official confirmed report, 74 people fatalities in Asakita-ku, Hiroshima. |
| 2014 | 27 August | According to Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare official confirmed report, a first dengue fever patient cases in the country since 1945, or later, 153 people are same symptoms by October, mainly Greater Tokyo Area in Kantō region. |
| 2014 | 27 September | Mount Ontake eruption begins and killed 63 people. It is the worst eruption disaster since 1991. |
| 2014 | 14 December | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won the general election at the second time. |
| 2015 | 8 January | The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fines Honda a record 70 million dollars for grossly under-reporting fatal accidents and injuries to the government. |
| 2015 | 14 January | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approves a record defence budget with plans to buy surveillance aircraft and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jets to improve the security of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea claimed by both Japan and China. |
| 2015 | 15 January | Japan–Australia Economic Partnership Agreement enters into the force. |
| 2015 | 1 February | JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries conduct its first launch of an Information Gathering Satellite with the aid of an H-IIA rocket F-27 from Tanegashima Space Center. |
| 2015 | 2 February | The Supreme Court finalizes the death sentence of Tomohiro Kato, a man who convicted of killing 7 people and 10 people are wounded at an indiscriminate rampage in Akihabara, Tokyo on 8 June 2008. |
| 2015 | 20 February | Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau (TMPDPSB) arrests Tsutomu Shirosaki, a Japanese Red Army member, for attempted arson associated with a 1986 mortar attack in Indonesia as he arrives at Narita Airport, having been deported from the United States following his January 16 release from jail. |
| 2015 | 26 February | Prince William makes his first visit to Japan, as well as visiting Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures, for all of thoses where the areas had been affected by 2011 triple disaster in Japan. |
| 2015 | 3 March | Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft and philanthropist, has announces that he discovered the Japanese battleship Musashi, more than 70 years after it was sunk by the United States Navy, in the Sibuyan Sea, of the Philippines. |
| 2015 | 10 March | The Supreme Court rejects prosecutors' claims that a 41-year-old man from Osaka Prefecture in Kansai region, who evaded 570 million yen in taxes by failing to declare income from betting on horse races, confirming that money lost betting on horses can, for tax purposes, be considered expenses deductible from winnings. FamilyMart and UNY Group Holdings, the holding company of Circle K Sunkus, reach an agreement to merge in September 2016, forming the second biggest convenience store operator by sales in Japan under a single brand name. |
| 2015 | 14 March | Hokuriku Shinkansen starts its service between Nagano and Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture, cutting travel time between Tokyo and Kanazawa by about 80 minutes to as little as 2 hours and 28 minutes. |
| 2015 | 28 March | The main keep of Himeji Castle, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, has reopened to the public after a major 5-year face-lift. The keep itself is recognized as one of the National Treasures of Japan. |
| 2015 | 10 April | The Nikkei 225 index reaches 20,006.00 in the first few minutes of trade, passing the 20,000 level for the first time since April 2000. |
| 2015 | 14 April | The Government of South Korea lifts the departure ban on a former chief of the Sankei Shimbun's Seoul bureau, who had been barred from leaving the country for eight months following his indictment in October 2014 for defamation of South Korean President Park Geun-hye. The charges were due to an article, posted on a Sankei website, that referred to a rumor in a South Korean publication that Park was seeing a man on the day of the sinking of MV Sewol in April 2014. |
| 2015 | 17 April | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets Takeshi Onaga, Governor of Okinawa Prefecture for the first time to push ahead with the government plan to relocate a U.S. military base in Futenma to the proposed location around Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa, but failed to reach agreement over the relocation. |
| 2015 | 11 July | President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata died of bile duct cancer at the age of 55. |
| 2015 | 11 August | Sendai Nuclear Power Plant No. 1 reactor is the first reactor to be restarted in accordance with the new regulatory requirements established by the Nuclear Regulation Authority following the Fukushima nuclear accident. |
| 2016 | 13 January | The Supreme Court rejects the appeal of former Aum Shinrikyo believer Shoko Asahara, and his sentence of 9 years in prison is confirmed. |
| 2016 | 24 January | Sumo wrestling player Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro win in a decade for a Japanese rikishi. |
| 2016 | 17 February | The launch of Hitomi (satellite), ChubuSat-2, ChubuSat-3, and Horyu-4 using a H-IIA 202 space launch vehicle |
| 2016 | 11 March | Japan marked the fifth anniversary of triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster, etc.), which claimed the lives of 20,000 people. |
| 2016 | 26 to 27 May | The 42nd G7 summit was held on Kashiko Island. |
| 2016 | 10 July | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won the House of Councillors election at the second time. |
| 2016 | 31 July | Yuriko Koike won the Tokyo gubernatorial election and was elected 9th Governor of Tokyo Metropolis. |
| 2016 | 5 to 7 December | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declares his historic plan to visit Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. |
| 2017 | 1 June | According to National Police Agency confirmed report, eight person arrested for violating customs law, who brought the equivalent of about 200 kg of gold, about 8.2 million US dollars to the fishing port without permission in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture. |
| 2017 | 5 October | Japanese-British writer Kazuo Ishiguro won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature. |
| 2017 | 22 October | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won the general election at the third time. |
| 2017 | 30 November | Emperor Akihito announces that he intends to retire and the end of Heisei period on April 30, 2019. |
| 2018 | 12 March | Japanese government has official confirmed that Japanese Ministry of Finance rewrote 14 decision documents in accordance with the response about a cooperative school in Osaka Prefecture to the National Assembly in 2017. |
| 2018 | 13 March | According to the Japan Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, an official report confirmed the Kumano cherry tree (Kumanozakura) as a new species Cherry tree (Sakura). The tree was discovered widely throughout the Kii Peninsula. The last new type of Sakura tree found in Japan was in 1915. |
| 2018 | 7 April | Japan activated the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, its first marine unit since World War II. They're trained to counter invaders from occupying Japanese islands. |
| 2018 | 28 June to 9 July | Heavy floods was started in western areas of Japan, most in Hiroshima Prefecture, which has been hit by torrential rain. As of 20 July, 225 people were killed, another 13 were declared missing, and 1.5 million people were displaced. |
| 2018 | 9 July to 26 August | East Asia heat wave kills least 116 people, due to heat-related causes, and at least 22,000 more suffer from heat strokes. |
| 2018 | 9 August | According to Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism official confirmed report, nine people died when a Bell 412EP helicopter crashed into the forest site in Nakanojō, Gunma Prefecture. |
| 2018 | 4 September | A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit Hokkaido created a region-wide power outage, because of damage to a thermal power station in the hard-hit town, Atsuma. According to a Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official report, 41 people were killed and 692 people were wounded. |
| 2018 | 11 October | Toyosu Market has opened as the largest wholesale fish market in the world. It replaced the old Tsukiji fish market. |
| 2018 | 26 December | Since the founder of International Whaling Commission in 1946, Japan announced that IWC had failed its duty to promote sustainable hunting, which is one of its stated goals, Japan is withdrawing its membership and will resume commercial hunting in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone from July 2019, but will cease whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean. |
| 2018 | 27 December | Japan executes two more prisoners, bringing 2018 executions to 15 taking annual total to highest since 2008. |

## Reiwa period (Since 2019)

| Year | Date | Event |
| 2019 | 30 April | Emperor Akihito abdicated being the first Japanese emperor to do so since 1817. Prince Naruhito succeeded his father as the Emperor of Japan, which marked the start of Reiwa period. |
| 2019 | 25 May 2019 to 1 January 2020 | The 2019 Emperor's Cup begins in Reiwa period. |
| 2019 | 1 July | Japan announces tightening of high-tech exports to South Korea, effective on 4 July, thus begin the trade dispute between the two countries from July 2019 to March 2023. |
| 2019 | 2 July | The tourist boom in Japan reach unprecedented scale, with a number of yearly visitors counting in millions - 19.73 in 2015, 23.97 in 2016, 28.6 in 2017, and 31.19 million foreign visitors in 2018. |
| 2019 | 18 July | Kyoto Animation arson attack: 36 people were killed in one of the deadliest massacres in post-World War II history of Japan. |
| 2019 | 21 July | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won the House of Councillors election at the third time. |
| 2019 | 2 August | Japan announces the removal of South Korea from its list of most trusted trading partners, effective on 28 August 2019. |
| 2019 | 20 September to 2 November | 2019 Rugby World Cup begins in Japan. |
| 2019 | 29 November | An oldest living former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone died of natural causes at aged 101. |
| 2020 | 15 January | According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare official report, Japan has confirmed the first case of novel coronavirus. It was marked the second exported case of COVID-19 pandemic (After Thailand) and the first reported in Japan. The patient was discharged from the hospital and Japanese government scaled up a whole-of-government coordination mechanism. |
| 2020 | 30 March | 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics has been postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic spreading. |
| 2020 | 7 April to 29 May | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared the first state of emergency over COVID-19 spreading. |
| 2020 | 29 August | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned due to his health reasons, such as ulcerative colitis, and he was replaced by his successor Yoshihide Suga at one month later. |
| 2021 | 7 January to 1 October | Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared the second, third, and fourth state of emergencies amid rising COVID-19 infections and deaths. |
| 2021 | February | COVID-19 vaccination program begins in Japan. |
| 2021 | 11 March | Japan marked the tenth anniversary of triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster, etc.), which claimed the lives of 20,000 people. |
| 2021 | 23 July to 8 August | 2020 Summer Olympic Games are held in Japan. |
| 2021 | 30 September | According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimated report, from January 2020 to the end of September 2021, Japan has registered 112,000 excess deaths as a direct effect of COVID-19 pandemic, but not 18,000 officially reported deaths. It is loss of about 2.6 years in the average life expectancy, although excess mortality rates for all causes has been estimated at between 100,000 and 130,000 deaths. Japan lifted 4th and final state of emergency up as infection falls. |
| 2021 | 1 October | Japan becoming the first country, who transited to the living with COVID-19 endemic phase in the future. |
| 2021 | 4 October | Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga resigned due to poor approval ratings, and he was replaced by Fumio Kishida, who was elected 100th Prime Minister of Japan. |
| 2021 | 31 October | Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wins the 2021 general election about 34.6% of the vote. |
| 2021 | 30 November 2021 to 7 May 2023 | Japan has confirmed the first case of COVID-19 Omicron variant, found from South Africa. As of 7 May 2023, Japan has reported 56,500 Omicron-related deaths, a lowest mortality toll, than compared to wealthy countries. |
| 2022 | 9 January | Former Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu died of pneumonia at the Tokyo hospital, at the age of 91. (According to Japanese Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare report and his family statement, announced that Toshiki Kaifu died at the hospital that it was unrelated to triple Fukushima disaster and COVID-19 and Omicron infections.) |
| 2022 | 1 February and 8 March | Former Governor of Tokyo and hawkish writer Shintaro Ishihara and his wife, essayist Noriko Ishihara both died at their home in Ota, Tokyo, at the both age of 89, following in their footsteps. (According to their family statement and Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, it was revealed that pancreatic cancer and raptured aortic aneurysm are both now 89-year-old Japanese couple's cause of death were unrelated to triple Fukushima disaster and COVID-19 and Omicron infections.) Both of their bodies were cremated after their private funerals, and both of ashes were scattered to the Sea of Japan or Pacific Ocean. |
| 2022 | 4 to 20 February | Japanese athletes compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. |
| 2022 | 11 February | A rice cracker confectionery manufacturing factory caught fire in Murakami, Niigata Prefecture. At least six factory workers have died from the fire. |
| 2022 | 27 February | Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida proposed that Japan should be stands with Ukraine, although this plan comes in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine. |
| 2022 | 23 April | According to a Japan Coast Guard official confirmed report, a sightseeing ferry, Kazu I, sank nearby Shiretoko Peninsula, Hokkaido. In total, 26 people died. |
| 2022 | 11 May | The Economic Security Promotion Law was enacted by the House of Councillors. This will be implemented in stages starting from April 2023. |
| 2022 | 2 to 3 June | According to Japan Meteorological Agency, Japan Weather News Television, and Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed reports, a massive hail fallen in Gunma, Saitama, and Chiba Prefectures, parts of Kanto region. At least 91 people were hurt, but no deaths and no one missing reported. |
| 2022 | 25 June | According to Japan Meteorological Agency official confirmed report, a Celsius 40.2 degrees (Fahrenheit 104.36 degrees) high temperature record hit in Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, as highest temperature record on June in Japan, since first observation record of JMA, since 1872, as same place another Celsius 40.0 (Fahrenheit 104.0 degrees) recorded observed on June 29. |
| 2022 | 8 July | At 11:30 a.m., former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated by 41-year-old-gunman Tetsuya Yamagami while he was giving a speech at the House of Councillors election campaign in Nara. At 5:03 p.m., he died at Nara hospital after being shot (about 5 hours and 33 minutes later). |
| 2022 | 8 July to 30 September | Japan declared the national mourning day of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated while he giving a speech at the House of Councillors election campaign in Nara. |
| 2022 | 11 July | Following Shinzo Abe's assassination, Japanese government discussed that Unification Church leader Tomihiro Tanaka has confirmed Tetsuya Yamagami's mother was a member of the religious group (Also known as the Unification Church (Shukyo nisei)). Because Shinzo Abe had alleged ties to the Unification Church, which go back generations including his father, Shintaro Abe, his mother Yoko Abe, and his maternal grandparents, Nobusuke and Yoshiko Kishi. At the end of World War II, his maternal grandfather was jailed as a suspected war criminal. |
| 2022 | 12 July | Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was cremated at Kirigaya Funeral Hall in Tokyo. |
| 2022 | 25 July | According to Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare official reports, Japan has confirmed the first case of monkeypox outbreak, but Japanese public health experts are said it is unlikely to cause a new surge. |
| 2022 | 10 August | Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the first reshuffled his second cabinet at the first time. |
| 2022 | 17 to 20 September | Typhoon Nanmadol, a heavy massive precipitation and landslide hit in southern Kyushu Island and other western parts of Japan. At least four people were killed and 147 people were wounded, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report. |
| 2022 | 27 September | Funeral service of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe begin at Nippon Budokan, Kitanomaru National Garden in Chiyoda, Tokyo. |
| 2022 | 28 October to 31 December | According to both Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare official reports, 50 cases of bird flu have been reported in Japan in chickens and ducks raised on poultry farms in nationwide, total 7.63 millions sluggered by Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. |
| 2022 | 22 November | Japan begins investigation into the Unification Church, just four months following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who allegedly by Tetsuya Yamagami with a longstanding grudge against the religious group. |
| 2022 | 29 December | Following China's recent decision to end its Zero-COVID strategy, Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Katsunobu Kato says the possibility of imposing travel restrictions on visitors from the Greater China is 'under the review'. The following day, Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has confirmed that passengers arriving in Japan from Greater China will have to provide a negative test before they board a flight. |
| 2023 | 1 January to 28 March | According to Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare official confirmed reports, at least 82 livestock farm place were bird flu, resulting H5N1 type from death bodies positive test on nationwide, and 9.9 million chickens were culling by Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. |
| 2023 | 13 January | According to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reports, Japanese prosecutors indicts 42-year-old gunman Tetsuya Yamagami for the suspect of the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on murder charges and as well as the gun violating laws after the concluding 6 months of psychiatric evaluation. |
| 2023 | 6 February | According to Mitsubishi Aircraft has official announcement, Mitsubishi SpaceJet has complete withdraw from manufacture, sales and development. |
| 2023 | 9 March | Japan's first female House of Representatives member Chikage Oogi died of esophageal cancer at the Tokyo hospital at the age of 89, less than three years after the death of her husband Sakata Tōjūrō IV from natural causes on 12 November 2020 at the age of 88. |
| 2023 | 15 April | Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida assassination attempt in Wakayama following the Saikazaki bombing. |
| 2023 | 2 June | According to Japan Meteorological Agency official confirmed report, a heavy massive torrential rain, affective Typhoon Mawar hit in Japan, many places occur on flash flood, levee collapse, landslide hit in Tokyo metropolitan area, Kii Peninsula, and Hamamatsu, which killed 7 people and 45 people are wounded. |
| 2023 | 14 July | According to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) official confiremed report, an explosion occurred during the test of solid fuel Epsilon rocket at JAXA's Noshiro Testing Center in Noshiro, Akita Prefecture, no one injures on this incident. |
| 2023 | 24 August | According to Japanese government official announcement, a despite opposition groups from environmental activist and government official from neighbor countries, from discharge of radioactive water of the Fukushima First Nuclear Power Plant to start into the Pacific Ocean has started. Relative Chinese government and South Korean government both announces that prohibition to all fish import from Japan on same day. |
| 2023 | 4 September | The Supreme Court of Japan formally orders Okinawa to allow the United States Armed Forces to expand its runways and military infrastructure on the island despite protests from the locals who oppose the American military's presence. |
| 2023 | 13 September | Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the second reshuffled his second cabinet at the second time. |
| 2023 | 2 October | An entertainment giant, Johnny & Associates official announcement, change name to Smile-Up, according to report. |
| 2023 | 7 October | According to Japan National Police Agency official confirmed report, four climbers were their lost to lives, due suddenly change temperature in Mount Asahi, Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture. |
| 2023 | 13 October | Japanese government seeking the dissolution of the Unification Church branch in Japan following the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at one year ago. |
| 2023 | 29 November | The United States Air Force V-22 Osprey crashes off the coast of Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture with eight crew members onboard. A search and rescue operation has been launched, according to Japan Coast Guard. |
| 2023 | 12 December | A district court in Fukushima, convicts three former soldiers for sexually assaulting a colleague, Rina Gonoi, during a military exercise in 2021, sentencing them to two years in prison and suspending them from the military for four years. |
| 2024 | 1 January | On New Year's Day, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Ishikawa Prefecture, killing at least 241 people. |
| 2024 | 2 January | Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 collides with a Japan Coast Guard DHC-8 aircraft and bursts into flames at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. The Coast guard plane was going to deliver aid to those affected by Ishikawa earthquake, a day before. All 379 occupants aboard Japan Airlines flight are evacuated, while five of six occupants aboard the Coast Guard aircraft are killed. |
| 2024 | 18 to 19 January | Amid 2023–2024 Japanese slush fund scandal, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that three factions of Liberal Democratic Party (Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai, Kōchikai, and Shisuikai) all announced their intention to dissolve to form a war cabinet. However, several L.D.P. lawmakers were indicted, including incumbent lawmakers Yasutada Ōno and Yaichi Tanigawa, who both resigned from the party following their indictments. |
| 2024 | 19 January | Japan becomes the fifth country to successfully land on the surface of the moon with the SLIM lunar lander mission. |
| 2024 | 24 January | Ukrainian-born Karolina Shiino is announced as the winner of the 2024 Miss Nippon Grand Prix beauty pageant. She is the first naturalised Japanese citizen to win the pageant. Her win sparks debates over "Japaneseness" and the shifting Japanese demographics. |
| 2024 | 25 January | A court sentences Shinji Aoba to death for a 2019 arson attack on Kyoto Animation studio in Fishimi, Kyoto, which killed 36 people. |
| 2024 | 26 January | Japanese police announced that they have arrested Satoshi Kirishima, a member of East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front, who has been a fugitive from justice for 50 years for his role in a series of bombings of companies. |
| 2024 | 29 January | Satoshi Kirishima died of cancer that had led him to seek hospital treatment. DNA comparison with relatives further confirms his identity as Kirishima. |
| 2024 | 5 February | Ukrainian-born Karolina Shiino won the 2024 Miss Nippon Grand Prix beauty pageant relinquishes her crown after news emerges of her having an affair with a married man. |
| 2024 | 1 March | The Nikkei Stock Exchange reaches 40,000 points for the first time. |
| 2024 | 12 March | A court in Fukuoka overturns the death sentence of yakuza Kudo-kai leader Satoru Nomura imposed for a 1998 murder and sentences him to life in prison. Nomura had originally been sentenced to death for murder in 1998. |
| 2024 | 13 March | KAIROS-1, designed by Space One as Japan's first privately-manufactured rocket, explodes seconds after its maiden launch from Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture. |
| 2024 | 20 March | South Korean-flagged tanker Keoyoung Sun capsizes off the coast of Yamaguchi Prefecture during the stormy weather. Nine crew members are found dead, while one person remains missing. Two people are rescued. |
| 2024 | 26 March | Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's cabinet allows the sale and export of fighter aircraft to other countries. |
| 2024 | 29 March | North Korean state media cites foreign minister Choe Son Hui as saying that North Korea rejects any talks with Japan on any issue, including Japanese abductees, after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was willing to meet in person with Kim Jong Un. |
| 2024 | 30 March | Japanese health officials search a Kobayashi Pharmaceutical factory in Osaka after five deaths possibly linked to its dietary supplements containing the red mold benikoji. |
| 2024 | 1 April | North Korea fires a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan near South Korean territory. The Imperial House of Japan opens an account on Instagram for the first time. |
| 2024 | 3 April | According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake strikes off the coast of Taiwan, prompting tsunami warnings for Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. A large section of an uninhabited Guishan Island collapses into the Pacific Ocean. Nine people are killed including four by rockfalls in Taiwan, with more than 930 other people have injured. A 30-cm tsunami is observed at Yonaguni Island and Miyako Island while a 20-cm tsunami reaches Ishigaki Island. |
| 2024 | 15 April | Japan raises its four-stage danger ranking level for most of Iran, including Tehran, to Level 3, which urges to avoid all travel to Iran following the Iranian strikes in Israel. |
| 2024 | 23 April | China objects to an offering the controversies that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine. |